Top 20 All Time Best Selling Game Franchises

[Puffa469]

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4508&Itemid=2

The Independent in London has published a list of the all-time best-selling game franchises, with U.S originated product making up only six of the top 20.
Mario, with sales of 193 million worldwide is at number one, followed by Pokemon (155m) and Final Fantasy (68m). EA’s Madden is the top-ranked US product (56m) followed by The Sims (54m). Crash Bandicoot at 13 is the next highest (35m) with James Bond, Command & Conquer and Mortal Kombat filling out the lower places. Japan dominates the list with 11 of the top 20. British-originated products Grand Theft Auto and Tomb Raider are also included at places six and 16 with Korea’s Lineage at 11.

Here’s the list.

1. 'Mario': 193 million.
2. 'Pokémon': 155 million
3. 'Final Fantasy': 68 million
4. 'Madden NFL': 56 million
5. 'The Sims': 54 million
6. 'Grand Theft Auto': 50 million
7. 'Donkey Kong': 48 million (centre)
8. 'The Legend of Zelda': 47 million
9. 'Sonic the Hedgehog': 44 million
10. 'Gran Turismo': 44 million
11. 'Lineage': 43 million
12. 'Dragon Quest': 41 million
13. 'Crash Bandicoot': 34 million
14. 'Resident Evil': 31 million
15. 'James Bond': 30 million
16. 'Tomb Raider': 30 million
17. 'Mega Man': 26 million
18. 'Command & Conquer': 25 million
19. 'Street Fighter': 25 million
20. 'Mortal Kombat': 20 million

[klwillis45]

Interesting find...I'm suprised that Crash ranks ahead of RE and Mega Man though (did they count Biohazard/Rockman seperately or at all??) and very shocked at how high Gran Turismo is.

[Puffa469]

Interesting find...I'm suprised that Crash ranks ahead of RE though (did they count Biohazard seperatly??) and very shocked at how high Gran Tuismo is.

The article doesnt specify if these are US sales, or worldwide. Although I would guess they are worldwide.

And in the case of Mega Man, I think its 26 million actual titles developed. ;)

[The Crotch]

I'm amazed Donkey Kong has outsold Zelda.

Do any of Mario's 193 million sales include parties, karts, tennis', etc?

[Who's The Twitch Now?]

A few interesting things I've noticed about this list:

There are four Nintendo-developed franchises, in the order of Mario, Pokemon, Donkey Kong and Zelda. These, together, account for 886 million units sold. The other 14 franchises, together, account for 621 million units sold.

That's astonishing. Nintendo may break 1,000,000,000 units this generation.

Another interesting tidbit is that, while Mario has been in more games than Mega Man, Mega Man, in his several ongoing series, has starred in more games. Yet, Mega Man's sales account for just over an eighth of Mario's sales.

It's also interesting to note, that in approximately the same number of titles, the US Madden market has come very close to matching the worldwide Final Fantasy market. Struck me as surprising.

That's my 2 and a half cents.

[Puffa469]

I'm amazed Donkey Kong has outsold Zelda.

Do any of Mario's 193 million sales include parties, karts, tennis', etc?

With the size of that number, I'd assume its any game with 'Mario' in the title, Mariokart, Mario Party, Mario-tennis/baseball/soccer, etc...

[JEKKI]

aw poor megaman...

the only way to reach the top 20 was by releasing 32498721 games....

as if we didnt feel sad enough for him since he could not shoot up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v93/Kuros/2006-09-06.png

[furyk]

Lineage? Really? Also Donkey Kong is ahead of Legend of Zelda because they've made several more DK games then Zelda games.

[dopa345]

How could Star Wars not make the list?

I'm also surprised that Warcraft didn't make it either.

[nasum]

I would have thought that the Final Fantasy series would be at least in the 90mil sold range...

[62t]

where is tertis?

[Wolfpup]

I'm absolutely shocked that ANYTHING beat Madden. I'd kind of like to see sales for "real" Mario games though, and not just "Mario x" games like they always do.

Oh well, really surprised to see how many great games are in that list. I thought it would be nothing but garbage.

[dopa345]

Metal Gear is also another notable omission too. Maybe my view is just skewed being in North America.

[rickonker]

I'm pretty sure Halo and Halo 2 have sold more than 20 million combined.

EDIT: My bad, it's around 15 million.

[FriskyTanuki]

The article doesnt specify if these are US sales, or worldwide. Although I would guess they are worldwide.

And in the case of Mega Man, I think its 26 million actual titles developed. ;)
The first sentence of the second paragraph says worldwide.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

There are four Nintendo-developed franchises, in the order of Mario, Pokemon, Donkey Kong and Zelda. These, together, account for 886 million units sold. The other 14 franchises, together, account for 621 million units sold.

That's astonishing. Nintendo may break 1,000,000,000 units this generation. And let's not forget the Fire Emblem, Kirby, Metroid, Star Fox, Wario, and Yoshi games, among others.

[VAD3R or Fro]

Old Crash FTW!

[furyk]

where is tertis?

The list doesn't count bundled games so the huge number of Tetris Game Boy games that got sold probably don't count to those totals.

[62t]

Metal Gear is also another notable omission too. Maybe my view is just skewed being in North America.
actually Metal Gear does better in US than Japan. MGS2 and 3 both got US release first. MGS3 also didnt sell as well as konami expected.

[wubb]

I wish they would have listed the number of titles per franchise as well. For example:

1. Mario (86 titles) 193 million

[Zen Davis]

Crash Bandicoot was the first western mascot that went over well in Japan. That is why he is actually up high on the list.

[Wolfpup]

Crash Bandicoot was the first western mascot that went over well in Japan. That is why he is actually up high on the list.

Didn't they "Japanese-atize" Crash (and some other characters) to help them sell better? I'd love to see their new look, and to know if that really was what it took to sell them over there.

I've long wondered why the Japanese seem to shun a lot of Western games, and wondered if it was really a legit thing or not...

[RAMSTORIA]

Lineage? Really?

that was the first thing i thought. i think the reast of the list isnt too shocking.

[Mr. Anderson]

that was the first thing i thought. i think the reast of the list isnt too shocking.

Lineage is massively popular in South Korea.

[mykevermin]

I'm also surprised that Warcraft didn't make it either.
The lack of Blizzard franchises *really* makes me skeptical of this list.

[furyk]

The lack of Blizzard franchises *really* makes me skeptical of this list.

Technically, there's only been three (five if you count expansions) Warcraft games. Plus, it probably doesn't include WOW or Starcraft as a Warcraft game which is sort of odd since WOW is as much a Warcraft games as Mario Party is a Mario game.

[Puffa469]

The lack of Blizzard franchises *really* makes me skeptical of this list.

Well lets think about it for a second. The minimun barrier for entry to the list is 20 million units. WoW has sold about 8 million. That means Warcraft 1,2, and 3 would have to add up to 12 million plus units. Back when those games came out, pc games just didnt selll that many units. A million seller on the pc is considered a megahit. And I bet they dont consider Starcraft to be part of the Warcraft franchise. Diablo has only 2 games, so theyre not gonna have 20 million sold either. What other Blizzard franchises can come close to those 3?

[mykevermin]

Valid points on both accounts, and both show just how arbitrary this ranking system can be.

More than Blizzard, I think dopa brought up Star Wars - how James Bond made the list, yet Star Wars didn't, suggests some really messy calculations to put this list together.

[Puffa469]

Yeah I got nuthin to explain the lack of Star Wars on the list. :lol:


Valid points on both accounts, and both show just how arbitrary this ranking system can be.

More than Blizzard, I think dopa brought up Star Wars - how James Bond made the list, yet Star Wars didn't, suggests some really messy calculations to put this list together.